Man who stole dead aunt's pension avoids jail by confessing

A man who stole almost €47,000 from the State by claiming his dead aunt's pension has avoided a jail term because he "informed on himself" and paid back all the money.

David Manning of Brighton Terrace, Monkstown, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 16 charges of theft of various cash sums from Blackrock Post Office, which were the property of both the Social Welfare and the Department of Social Protection, on dates between February 2010 and August 2013.